Seven air-traffic control towers in Southern California will close next month as a result of forced federal budget cuts, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday. The FAA had been considering closing as many as 189 air-traffic control towers at smaller airports across the nation, including 14 in Southern California . The FAA must cut $637 million by Sept. 30 as part of $85 billion in cuts across the federal government. Southern California will lose towers in Fullerton, Oxnard, Riverside, San Diego, Victorville, Pacoima and Lancaster.

January 27, 2014 | By Ricardo Lopez, This post has been updated. See the note below for details.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered inspections Monday of Boeing 767 jets to check for problems that could result in a "possible loss of control of the airplane," according to a notice published in the Federal Register. Monday's order is the latest in a string of inspections dating back to 2000. The FAA is calling for inspections of the horizontal flight-control surfaces, called elevators, that help the jets climb and descend. The agency said faulty parts could result "in a significant pitch upset" and cause pilots to lose control of the aircraft.

NEW YORK - The Federal Aviation Administration may rethink its puzzling ban on using smartphones, e-readers and computers during takeoff and landing. It's unclear whether the federal agency no longer sees the Kindle or iPad as a risk to modern jetliners as they ascend or descend but not when they reach cruising altitude. In a press release, the agency cited "widespread consumer use of portable electronic devices" as a reason to reexamine its policies. “With so many different types of devices available, we recognize that this is an issue of consumer interest,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration is developing a plan requiring airlines to inspect the emergency devices on their Boeing 787 Dreamliners after a fire erupted on the plane last week while it was parked at London's Heathrow Airport. On Friday the agency said these mandatory inspections “would ask operators to inspect for proper wire routing and any signs of wire damage or pinching, as well as inspect the battery compartment for unusual signs of heating or moisture.” The FAA plan is not expected to ground the worldwide 787 fleet, as happened earlier this year.

NEW YORK--A Boeing 747 and a commuter jet came too close for comfort over New York City after the larger plane missed its landing and soared into the air just after the smaller aircraft had taken off, aviation officials said Friday. The incident occurred June 13 at 3:45 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It was first reported Friday morning by the local NBC affiliate . The report was confirmed in an emailed statement from the FAA. According to the FAA, the Delta Boeing 747 was arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Asserting that voluntary guidelines won't work, elected officials on Monday night urged the Federal Aviation Administration to adopt regulations to reduce the noise and safety risks of helicopter flights over neighborhoods across Los Angeles County. At a public hearing in Griffith Park, the officials targeted a recent FAA report, which concluded that controlling helicopter operations would be better with a voluntary approach instead of hard and fast rules that carry penalties. The report , released May 31, is part of an effort to deal with choppers that fly low over neighborhoods, celebrities' homes and famous landmarks, such as the Hollywood sign or the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

It's not a cure for cancer or world peace, but airline travelers got an early Christmas present Thursday: The Federal Aviation Administration announced that it “can safely expand passenger use of portable electronic devices (PEDs) during all phases of flight.” This being the government, which has no sense of humor, officials missed the chance to call it “the Alec Baldwin rule.” But now all the tech-addicted folks who can't go a single minute without their iPads or iPhones or Kindles or whatever won't have to. Great.

A Federal Aviation Administration official who was criticized last week for the agency's handling of missed inspections at Southwest Airlines Co. has been reassigned, an FAA spokeswoman said. Thomas Stuckey is still working at the FAA but is no longer the agency's director of flight standards for the five-state southwest region based in Fort Worth, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. Brown said Stuckey was moved to "an administrative position that doesn't have safety oversight." She declined to comment on the reasons for the move.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced that it is investigating allegations made anonymously on a CBS newscast that pilots of the troubled commuter Provincetown-Boston Airline used drugs and alcohol in the cockpit. Airline officials also asked federal drug agents to investigate. Last Nov. 10, the FAA revoked the airline's certificate of operation because of safety violations. In December, a Provincetown-Boston Bandeirante aircraft crashed outside Jacksonville, Fla., killing 13 persons.

Regarding your reporting on aircraft safety ("Dangerous Delays," Dec. 11-13): I couldn't agree with you more. It's the legal cost of human life versus the cost of the safety measure. As an aircraft engineer, I researched the use of jelled fuels as a safety measure for fighter aircraft many years ago. I found extensive research showing that in a crash with ruptured fuel tanks, the jelled fuel did not atomize and ignite as does conventional jet fuel. Rather it remained in globs and, if it did ignite, burned calmly like Sterno.